


Methos Chronicles 18

by Helis_von_Askir



Series: Methos Chronicles [18]
Category: Highlander - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:01:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26344558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Helis_von_Askir/pseuds/Helis_von_Askir
Summary: Of course the Old Man has to have a crazy hot new girlfriend.
Relationships: Methos/Original Character
Series: Methos Chronicles [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1350058
Kudos: 10





	Methos Chronicles 18

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't Highlander, only my OC's. I hope you have as much fun with them as I did.

Richie hurried up the steps to Methos’ villa and headed straight for the kitchen. He was starving and the Old Man’s place had been closest. Strictly speaking he wasn’t supposed to come here without calling first, but damn it, Methos shouldn’t have given him a key then.

His head was buried deep in the refrigerator when the Buzz hit him. That wasn’t good. Methos’ car hadn’t been in the garage, so who the hell…?

“You must be Richie.” A female voice said from the door to the terrace.

Turning around Richie saw a vision of a woman leaning against the doorframe, wearing not but a bikini and water, slowly running down her gorgeous body.

“Ah…” was all he managed to get out.

“Very eloquent.” The woman said. “My name’s Marique Van De Winter.”

“Hi,” Richie breathed. “You’re a friend of Alessandro?”

The woman inclined her head. “No, I’m here for his head but since he wasn’t in I decided to take a swim while I wait for him to show up.”

Richie chuckled nervously. “That’s a joke, right?”

Marique rolled her eyes. “Yes, that’s a joke. I’m visiting for a bit, we’re old friends.”

“Known him long?” Richie asked, just to say something and trying to hide behind the open fridge door. He wasn’t hungry anymore but stepping in full view would be embarrassing until he had a cold shower or three.

“A while, yes.” Marique replied and came into the kitchen. “Methos said you would be by to raid his fridge sooner or later. But maybe you’d like a quick dunk in the pool, water’s a really nicely cold.” Her gaze traveling downward over his body with a knowing look.

Richie laughed again, really embarrassed now. “Yeah…yeah, sorry.”

“Oh, don’t be. We women have egos too.” Marique smiled at him, making the young Immortal blush furiously. Something that only Amanda had managed to that extent before.

“Yeah, well, glad to be of service.” Richie stammered, hoping to not sound like the idiot he felt like right now.

“There’s some pasta on the middle shelf, you might try that. Bon appetite. I need to get ready.” Marique said and walked, glided, sauntered, towards the back stairs.

Richie couldn’t help himself but to look after her, her behind as gorgeous as her front. “I’m a dead man,” He muttered to himself. “Methos is so going to kill me.” Without getting anything to eat he closed the fridge and left. Maybe he should head back to Paris. MacLeod would protect him from the Old Man’s wrath, surely.

He never got anywhere near Paris. Richie was barely out of the door of the villa when MacLeod called and told him that he and Amanda were coming to Rome and could he please pick them up the airport that evening.

“Sure, sure, no problem.” Richie assured his teacher. “Oh, and did you know if Methos go a new girlfriend? Goes by the name Marique and is smoking hot.”

Mac sighed. “Yeah, I know her and I don’t think I made a very good first impression.”

“What happened?” Richie wanted to know.

“It’s complicated.” Mac replied. “Tell you when we get there.”

“Okay, see you in a bit then. Bye, Mac.” Richie shook his head. Either mac had been hitting on Marique and failed or there had been another Immortal involved, probably another woman. Even Richie could figure that much out.

When they arrived Mac took them to dinner in the best and most expensive restaurant in all of Rome where they met up with Methos and Marique.

Marique was dressed in a deep red cocktail dress, looking just as stunning as before. As did Amanda in a very tight black leather dress. Richie didn’t know where to look without embarrassing himself again. Sometimes he really hated his 19-year-old body.

“You know I never got you guys and your interest in archaeology and history and stuff.” Richie mused aloud over coffee. Dinner had been fantastic and he was so stuffed that he couldn’t think straight or he wouldn’t have chosen that topic.

“What’s there not to get?” Amanda wanted to know. “It’s valuable and you can show off your knowledge without appearing weird.”

“I think it’s more about holding on to some part of your past. So you don’t feel quite so lost in the present.” MacLeod added.

“What about you, ROG? And pearls of wisdom?” Richie turned to Methos who had followed the exchange silently.

“No,” he replied shortly. Why should he explain or justify himself to the kid? His reasons were his own.

“Geez, what put you in such a bad mood?” The young Immortal asked.

Marique laughed “You think this is him in a bad mood? Oh, my young friend, you haven’t seen anything yet. And do yourself a favor, don’t call him ROG.”

“Too true.” Amanda agreed. “But still, Benjamin, why are you so…down?”

Methos shrugged. “No reason…just remembering some things, you know how it is.”

Egypt, 1887 AD

Egypt the Eternal. Methos looked around the harbor of Alexandria and suppressed a sigh. How had it come to this? How had the once proud Egyptians been reduced to this? It was like the land was asleep and the people only half awake. It was not the fault of the Romans, Egypt had had many good centuries left after they had taken possession of the granary of the Mediterranean. It still had been strong when Islam came to these shores, but then something along the way had gone wrong. Egypt had lost its drive and fallen behind.

And Europe had surpassed it without a backward glance. Not interested in what this old wise country could teach. Until Napoleon had come along. The only good thing that madman had ever done was to bring a bunch of historians along and let them play in the sand.

And now he was here to do the same. To return to all the memories this land had given him, some bad, true, but most good. Though he hoped that the Europeans tendency to rip everything they liked out and carry it off back home would stop soon, or there would nothing be left for future generations.

“Are you done daydreaming, Benjamin?” Gordon Johnson asked behind him.

“Are you always in such a hurry?” Methos asked back. Though he had been daydreaming, remembering all the times he had lived in this country. But of course Benjamin Leicester had never been here before.

“Of course, if it will get me out of this bloody heat.” Gordon replied. He was the middle son of Lord Graften and had a talent for getting himself into trouble. Which was why he was accompanying Methos on this trip. He had seduced the wife of an acquaintance of his father and had to leave England in a hurry, or face the husband over a pair of pistols. Since Gordon was a terrible shot, his father had put him on the first ship out of London, which just happened to have Methos onboard and well, Graften was a friend.

Young Gordon hadn’t been the best of company during the voyage. He was impatient to get off the ship ever since he had boarded. And angry that he had to wait until old Lord Weatherly passed away before he could return to England again.

“I don’t understand why I had to come here. Paris would have been just as good, better even since people there are actually civilized.” Gordon complained as they made their way off the ship and towards the waiting carriage that would take them to their hotel.

“But not far enough away for your father’s peace of mind.” Methos pointed out.

“He’s overreacting, as always.” Gordon huffed. “Do you really have to leave tomorrow? What am I supposed to do in this god-forsaken city all alone?”

Methos shrugged. “Unlike you, I’m here to work. You could always come along. Maybe you even earn a thing or two.” He had gotten a position in the hospital in Cairo and would head there tomorrow. And the local people here were in dire need of some good doctors. And to think they had once been able to successfully operate on the human brain. And now what was left of it? It was kind of depressing to think about it.

Gordon made a face like the thought of learning something was as appealing to him as swimming with sharks. He was not the intellectual of the family.

It was four months later that Methos first heard about a new find in the south. And it had everyone excited. A local woman had found over three hundred cuneiform tablets in the middle of the desert. Well, not the middle, it was near the Nile but there was nothing else there that indicated that there had ever been a city or at least a temple there. Nor could Methos remember there ever being either but then he hadn’t been in Egypt for long periods of time. It was possible that a city had come and gone without him ever hearing about it.

He found it interesting, of course, but didn’t think much of it. The old Egyptians had been enthusiastic builders. There must be hundreds, if not thousands, of lost sites in Egypt just waiting to be rediscovered.

“Maybe I should head south too.” Gordon mused loudly one evening. The young man had gotten bored in Alexandria pretty quickly and come to Cairo so that he had at least someone to talk to. He and Methos were sitting in the Immortal’s little house the hospital provided sharing some whiskey. You didn’t get much alcohol here, even less cheaply. “You know, find myself some treasure and head home a made man. Lord Weatherly be damned.”

Methos smiled at his mortal friend. “And ye, somehow I don’t see you digging through tons of dirt to find that treasure.”

Gordon scoffed. “I’d hire locals to do the heavy lifting, of course.”

“Paying them with what money? Your father is not exactly generous with you.” Methos pointed out. It was a sore spot for young Gordon that he had to watch what he spent. His father only sent him a small amount every month and that had to last a month or he would starve for a week or two, as he had found out the first months of his stay in Egypt. Methos had taken pity on him and shared his meals with him until he had gotten the next allowance.

Gordon soon forgot his dreams of ancient treasure and the reason for that was of course a woman. The neglected wife of a rich French businessman. She was bored and Gordon was good looking and up for some fun. Methos just shook his head. Either the boy would learn on his own or the would end up dead by the hand of a jealous husband sooner rather than later. Some people you simply couldn’t save from their own foolishness.

He himself kept an ear out to see what all those excavations brought to light all over Egypt. It was quite possible that some of those artefacts had once belonged to him. But of the most interest to him was the site where the Cuneiform tablets had been found. But it wasn’t until about four years later that Methos travelled there himself. Sir Flinders Petrie was planning a big scale excavation and wanted a British doctor along for all his little ailments. There weren’t many patients in the hospital currently and he had trained the staff well in the last years therefore Methos agreed to come along for a few weeks.

It was near midday when Methos finally stepped off the ship and the heat was oppressing. Almost no one moved outside and he quickly made his way over to the nearest tavern to get under some shade.

One of Petrie’s men was waiting for him inside, sipping scaling hot tea and generally appearing to be in no hurry at all. Methos didn’t blame him, setting out now would be begging for a heat-stroke. At the nod from the man, Methos sat down at the little table and also ordered some tea.

The man’s name was Joseph, he was a Copt from Alexandria, which was probably why he had gotten the job as Petrie’s assistant. No Muslim would have been given that much responsibility by a snobbish Brit like Petrie.

“We’re really glad to have a doctor with us now.” Joseph told him over tea.

“Do many get injured?” Methos wanted to know.

Joseph shrugged his bony shoulders. “Not injured, no. But many have problems with the heat, especially those not born here. Many forget to drink enough.” He held his hands up as if to say _what can you do_?

“Well, I’ll make sure to keep an eye on that then.” Methos assured the mortal. “Tell me, have you found anything yet?”

“No much, more tablets, ceramics, pottery and things like that. Mister Petrie is hoping for a statue or two to show off but so far no luck.” Joseph replied.

Methos nodded but his thoughts were not really there. It was clear by the findings that there had been a city once, a sizeable one at that, but Methos just couldn’t remember there every having been one. And in Egypt, cities usually lasted a very long time, even once they were abandoned. Could this city have been built and destroyed or at least left within two, three decades? It sounded unlikely, but not impossible.

There had been that one Trojan War which had ended not so well for him, where a city had been forgotten so quickly, or some of the places he and his brothers had raided, but those had hardly deserved the name city, not even town. Ah, well, he would figure it out eventually. And if not, he had friends he could ask. One of them would probably know something.

The dig site was what one would expect from such an operation. The natives were busy hauling dirt in the sun while the Europeans sat in the shade, drank tea and admired the few things they had found so far.

Mehtos couldn’t blame them. Working in this climate sucked, he had done it often enough. In their place he would find someone else to do it for them too. But he wouldn’t be quite such a snob about it. One day the Europeans would go too far with their superior complex and it would end in blood. As it usually did.

“Ah, Dr. Leicester, so glad you could make it.” Petrie greeted him and waved him over. “Do take a look at what we have uncovered so far.”

Dutifully Methos walked over and admired the pot-shards. It really wasn’t much. Petire would do better to by digging up some of the many, many temples Ramses, second of his name, had had built during his long rule. Whoever had lived here hadn’t let much behind.

“I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before we find the first statue, maybe even a temple.” Petrie said. “After all, this is Egypt. Throw a stone and you hit a temple.”

Methos smiled and nodded dutifully. There were indeed many temples along the Nile and in the oases dotting the desert. But Methos thought that Petrie may be overly optimistic. To him this place didn’t seem likely to hold much, not anymore, maybe never. It was a strange place for a city anyway, maybe it had only be used to dump old and broken things.

Present Day

Archaeology and history and stuff, indeed. Richie couldn’t be blamed for not getting it. He was too young yet, in a couple of centuries he would understand why it was so important for so many of them.

Amarna was a good example of that. There was so much lost when it had been destroyed after Akhenaten’s death. He would never had learned of its existence if not for archelogy or at least the beginnings of it. And that would have been a shame. It must have been an interesting time, and there were days when Methos regretted not having been there.

“So, what do you think of Marique? Have you known her before?” Richie asked Amanda the next morning.

She flashed him a smile. “I’ve run into her before, and that’s all I’m going to say on that topic.”

“Not a friend then?” Richie grinned. “I thought I detected some tension there.”

Amanda scoffed. “I know what you _detected_ and it wasn’t tension between me and Marique. You men are all the same.

“Touchy.” Richie muttered. “You think the Old Man and Marique are an item? Because if not I’ll try my luck.”

The immortal thief burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, Richie.” She said when she had calmed down somewhat. “You know I love you but Marique is so far out of your league, it’s not funny anymore.”

“Then why are you laughing?” The younger Immortal wanted to know. He knew his chances were slim, but did Amanda have to rub it in like that?

“Oh, darling, because you’re just so adorable.” Amanda patted his cheek gently, still smiling.

End


End file.
